| | AUGUST 202019CIOReviewBranch offices are growing at a rate of 17 percent and a recent report states that approximately 75 percent of enterprise employees work remotely or in a branch office already. With the growth in branch offices, networks are getting larger and more widespread.Furthermore, even as customers and employees are becoming increasingly distributed across the globe, and physically farther apart from headquarters and from each other, they expect to have a seamlessly connected experience. Delivering that experience increases the demands on branch networks. For example: · Networks must enable quick access to corporate assets in order to facilitate the exchange of information between employees in all locations in real-time.· Branches must be full-service; everything you can do at headquarters, you should be able to do at the branch. This requires a high level of network performance.· Networks must deliver this high level of connectivity securely to avoid data breaches and security issues, as information is shared seamlessly and efficiently.Moreover, trends in technology are increasing the sophistication and complexity of network infrastructure and operations of a typical branch, putting additional pressure on the management of the networks:· Increased reliance on Software-as-a-Service and cloud applications that require businesses to enable and secure increased internet traffic at the branch sites.· Growing use of high-bandwidth applications, such as real-time communication and collaboration technologies that increase the risks of downtime and slow network performance.· Pervasive and increasing security threats, which require protection against attackers that target an organization's weakest links, typically at the network edge.These trends, along with an increased desire for an optimal connected experience are causing distributed organizations to seek branch office solutions that provide high network performance and security, centralized and automated management capabilities, and cost efficiencies across the branch network infrastructure and operations.SIMPLIFYING DEPLOYMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF BRANCH OFFICE NETWORKSBy Ari Bose, CIO, BrocadeAri BoseCIO INSIGHTS
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